As far as I recall, the last time I checked Survival Mode, it seemed to be disabled; however, upon checking today, I noticed that a distinct new system has been implemented. In this mode, before engaging in battles, I was required to select a specific bracket. Since it is impossible to play in this mode without completing this step, I clicked the "Select Bracket" button, which opened the "Select Your Bracket" page. Aside from providing basic information about the mode, this page presented a total of eleven brackets, categorised according to difficulty levels ranging from Novice to Expert. Within these options, there was a further distinction: one set of choices was designated for manual players, while the other was intended for bots. As I prefer to play manually, and based on my own assessment of my skill level, I selected the third—the "Intermediate"—bracket and completed the process.
Well, after doing that, I noticed that the "Battle" button on the Survival Mode page was enabled, and some details regarding my selected bracket were displayed on the screen. At this point—finally, and with a touch of nervousness—I clicked the BATTLE button. I was apprehensive because, in Survival Mode, if you lose a battle, any cards that were knocked out during that match become unplayable until their cooldown period expires. Although this mode allows you to utilise your absolute "best-of-the-best" cards from every Splinterlands set—including those from the Gladius set—whenever one of your cards is defeated, it becomes unplayable for a specific duration; given this consequence, feeling a little apprehensive is certainly understandable.
It was under this pressure that I began playing my first battle. To start with, finding an opponent in this mode remains a very time-consuming process; I literally waited for 3–4 minutes before the battle finally commenced. There was only one ruleset—Divine Shield—and the Mana cap was quite low. Consequently, playing it extremely safe, I selected the Elf Summoner, Elowen Sylphie, primarily to utilise her Resurgence ability to double the power of my two key cards, as, given such a low Mana cap, I didn't have many other viable options at my disposal. On the frontline, following the Halfling Refugee, I positioned a card with the Thorns ability, and deployed a card with the Scavenger ability right behind it; these served as my two primary attackers. Additionally, for strategic purposes, I included a card with the Slow ability, along with one other random card to utilise the remaining Mana.
Technically, my opponent's overall stats were superior to my team's. At first glance, my team appeared slightly weaker; however, thanks to Archon's blessing, my two main attackers possessed the "Resurgence" ability—in addition to "Trample"—which grants them the power to reappear with 100% stats after being knocked out. As it turned out, however, there was no need to utilise that ability. The final two cards in my lineup executed the specific tasks I required of them flawlessly; meanwhile, my cards' attacks inflicted continuous damage upon the enemy, allowing me to win this battle with remarkable ease.
Note:
English is not my first language. So sometimes I use 'Google Translate'. Please don't think that anything I have written in this blog has been copied from somewhere or is AI-generated.
Paragraph Dividers and all the photos are from #Splinterlands.
All the other content images and words are mine unless otherwise stated.
Have a Happy and Blessed day!
